Boot or shoe sole



Y NiTEn STATES PATENT EEIOE.

BOOT OR SHOE SOLE.

SPECIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,668, dated January 19, 1886. Application tiled November 10, 1885. Serial No. 1812, 385. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. KNIFE and LUTHER DAY, of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot and Shoe Soles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a flexible bottom for a boot or shoe, Whether said bottom be a single outer sole of leather with a leather-board or other cheap material glued to its surface or an outer sole and an intermediate or tuck sole used in connection with an inner sole.

The invention consists in a combination, with an outer sole, of an inner layer, which may be either a sheet of leather-board or other material glued to said sole or an intermediate or tuck sole, said inner layer being provided with a series of openings, each formed by removing a portion ofthe material of the said inner layer, so as to form a narrow slot or groove in contradistinction to a single out, formed without removing any of the said material, as I will now proceed to describe. y

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l represents a top view of a sole having glued to its inner surface a layer of leather-board or other material provided with slots or grooves according to my invention. Fig. 2 represents a section on the line x x of Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section of a part of a boot or shoe, showing a tuck-sole, its inner surface provided with the slots or grooves in accordance with my invention. Fig. 4 represents an enlarged section of a portion of the sole shown in Fig. l, showing various forms of slots and grooves formed in the inner layer.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents the outer sole of a boot, shoe, or slipper; and b represents the inner layer, which, as shown in Figs. l and 2, is a piece of leather-board glued to the inner surface of the sole. The sole with the leather-board glued to i lis so stilf and iniiexible as to make a shoe or slipperin vwhich it is contained hard and uncomfortable to the bottom of the foot. To obviate this objection,

ltransverse slits have been made in the inner layer before the attachment of it to the sole, said slits having been made by a single cut, which did not remove any of the material of the inner layer, the result being that after the gluing of the inner layer to the sole the compound sole is nearly or quite as rigid as it would be it' the slits were not formed.

In carrying out ourinventon We cut narrow slots or Agrooves c in the inner layer, said grooves being formed by removing narrow stripsof said layer and extendingeither entirely through said layer to the inner surface of the sole in the form of slots, or only partially through in the form of grooves. The openings c extend crosswise of the sole and terminate a little distance from the margin of the inner layer, as shown in Fig. l, so that they are not visible at the outer edge. The compound sole thus treated is found to be nearly or quite as flexible as the leather sole alone would be, and a boot, shoe, or slipper containing said compound sole is found to be very flexible and easy to the wearers foot.

In Fig. 3 we have shown the inner layer as atucksole interposed between the outer sole, a, and the inner sole, e, said tuck-sole being vslotted or grooved in the same way that the sheet of leather -board above described is slotted or grooved.,

We claim as our invention- The combination, with an outer sole, of an inner layer attached to saidf'sole and slotted or grooved transversely, said slots or grooves being formed by the removal of a portionV of the material of said inner layer, as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses, this 2d day of Nog vember, 1885.

WILLIAM A. KNIFE. LUTHER DAY. Witnesses:

BENJAMIN A. HILLIARD, F. R. HTLLIARD. 

